During the past year I have heard stories that children who attend schools with WiFi are complaining of a racing heart while in school (link to video). Two of these students in the Barrie area (Canada) were given heart monitors to wear and one young girl was scheduled for heart surgery because her cardiologist couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Her parents postponed the operation, removed the WiFi in their home, and her symptoms did not return during the summer when she wasn’t attending school.
During the past few years two different students, also in the Barrie region, experienced exercise-related sudden cardiac arrest. Fortunately they got help quickly and survived. Schools have now installed defibrillators as a consequence.
Is it normal for young people to complain of heart problems and for two students in a relatively small community to experience sudden cardiac arrest?
I began to research this subject and learned that sudden cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death among athletes (Drezner et al. 2008) and appears to be increasing among adolescents and young adults (Maron et al. 2009; Zheng et al. 2005). Sudden death among athletes increased slowly from 1980 to 1995 and then rose suddenly in 1996 and continued to increase up to 2006, when the study was terminated (Maron et al. 2009) (See figure 1). Coronary heart disease and blunt trauma to the chest during competition have been identified as the cause in some cases but other cases remain a mystery.
Doctors do not know the reason for this disturbing trend and according to one study (Dencheve et al. 2010), medication for children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder may increase the risk for sudden cardiac death.
One aspect that has not be considered is the increasing exposure to microwave radiation from mobile phones, cell phone antennas, and wireless technologies in the home and school environment. Could it be that our low level exposure to microwave radiation is placing undue stress on the nervous system of these children and is contributing to heart irregularities that become exacerbated with exercise resulting in sudden cardiac arrest? If microwaves at low intensities (as shown in our study) can affect adult hearts then this radiation can certainly affect the hearts of children.
In November 2010, two schools in the Barrie area were monitored for microwave radiation. What is particularly disturbing about the results obtained is that of the 20 rooms measured 17 of the classrooms had levels at or above the levels that caused heart irregularities among adults in our heart rate variability study (0.003 milliwatts/cm2). But even more disturbing is that levels of microwave radiation exceeded Health Canada’s Safety Code 6 guideline near a computer in one classroom (1.342 vs 1 milliW/cm2)! I will write more about this in a separate report.
We know that pace makers can malfunction if they are exposed to interfering microwave frequencies and people with pace makers are told to stay away from microwave ovens and other microwave emitting devices. The newer pace makers have shielding to prevent interference. But the human heart comes without a shield. So it is not only the child or adult with a pace maker that needs to be careful about their exposure to microwaves, all of us need to be aware that this radiation may affect the heart.
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